Chapter 4

A Chat In The Clouds

The Skyeman seemed so earnest and upright a seaman, that to tell the
plain truth, in spite of his love for me, I had many misgivings as to
his readiness to unite in an undertaking which apparently savored of
a moral dereliction. But all things considered, I deemed my own
resolution quite venial; and as for inducing another to join me, it
seemed a precaution so indispensable, as to outweigh all other
considerations.

Therefore I resolved freely to open my heart to him; for that special
purpose paying him a visit, when, like some old albatross in the air,
he happened to be perched at the foremast-head, all by himself, on
the lookout for whales never seen.

Now this standing upon a bit of stick 100 feet aloft for hours at a
time, swiftly sailing over the sea, is very much like crossing the
Channel in a balloon. Manfred-like, you talk to the clouds: you have
a fellow feeling for the sun. And when Jarl and I got conversing up
there, smoking our dwarfish "dudeens," any sea-gull passing by might
have taken us for Messrs. Blanchard and Jeffries, socially puffing
their after-dinner Bagdads, bound to Calais, via Heaven, from Dover.
Honest Jarl, I acquainted with all: my conversation with the captain,
the hint implied in his last words, my firm resolve to quit the ship
in one of her boats, and the facility with which I thought the thing
could be done. Then I threw out many inducements, in the shape of
pleasant anticipations of bearing right down before the wind upon the
sunny isles under our lee.

He listened attentively; but so long remained silent that I almost
fancied there was something in Jarl which would prove too much for me
and my eloquence.

At last he very bluntly declared that the scheme was a crazy one; he
had never known of such a thing but thrice before; and in every case
the runaways had never afterwards been heard of. He entreated me to
renounce my determination, not be a boy, pause and reflect, stick to
the ship, and go home in her like a man. Verily, my Viking talked to
me like my uncle.

But to all this I turned a deaf ear; affirming that my mind was made
up; and that as he refused to accompany me, and I fancied no one else
for a comrade, I would go stark alone rather than not at all. Upon
this, seeing my resolution immovable, he bluntly swore that he would
follow me through thick and thin.

Thanks, Jarl! thou wert one of those devoted fellows who will wrestle
hard to convince one loved of error; but failing, forthwith change
their wrestling to a sympathetic hug.

But now his elderly prudence came into play. Casting his eye over
the boundless expanse below, he inquired how far off were the islands
in question.